Driver loses licence after photo of five unrestrained kids in car

A NSW motorist has copped almost $2000 in fines and lost his licence after a photo of him driving a car on New Year's Day with five unrestrained children crammed in the boot was shared on social media.

Gold Coast woman Tiana Kirby was shocked at the 41-year-old driver's flagrant disregard for safety and snapped a photo of the car which came to the attention of police after she posted it on Facebook.

"She was following it from behind ... and noticed all these faces packed into the car," her father, Paul Kirkby, told the Gold Coast Bulletin.

"Tiana grabbed a photo and posted it on Facebook.

"We used to do it all the time 30 years ago but it’s pretty dangerous nowadays."

The 18-year-old told the Daily Mail it was "the most ridiculous thing I have seen in my life".

"I couldn't see if there were more in the car without seat belts but there could have been – it's just so crazy and dangerous."

A day after seeing the photo Queensland police tracked down the driver and issued him fines totalling $1932 and 18 demerit points.

He was fined $341 and lost three points for each unrestrained child as well as receiving a fine for exceeding the number of passengers allowed in the vehicle.

Chief Superintendent Des Lacy said the children could have been killed.

"People don’t realise that it might not be their driving but the driving of another vehicle that causes a collision and with that many people in the car with no seatbelts we would be looking at a fatality," he said.

"People think it won’t happen to them or there is only a small distance to travel so it will be okay and nine times out of 10 it might be but you only need one person to ignore a stop sign or look down and cross the centre line to have a collision."